D2C Food Brand Anveshan Bags INR 48 Cr Led By Wipro Consumer Care Ventures

D2C food brand Anveshan has secured INR 48 Cr (around $6 Mn) in a Series A funding round led by Wipro Consumer Care Ventures.

The round also saw participation from existing investors such as DSG Consumer Partners, Titan Capital Winners Fund and Force Ventures, along with angel investors, including boAt cofounders Aman Gupta and Sameer Mehta.

The round is a mix of primary and secondary transactions, with some early backers making a partial exit.

The Delhi NCR-based startup plans to deploy the fresh capital to boost its partner manufacturing network, supply chain capabilities, double down on marketing efforts and further build its tech stack.

Anveshan was founded in 2020 by Aayushi Khandelwal, Kuldeep Parewa and Akhil Kansal. It was launched with an aim to bridge the gap in the Indian consumer market filled with adulterated food and drinks products and provide an alternative to the consumers.

Backed by purity and authenticity as its key USP, the natural food-focussed Anveshan directly source its products from the farmers and sell it to their customers via their website, traditional ecommerce platforms and quick commerce services.

The Aman Gupta-backed startup’s product portfolio includes natural products such as A2 ghee, cold-pressed and wood-pressed oils, superfoods, natural honey, and fruit-based sweets. The startup claims to have a network of over 5,000 farmers and has served close to 1.5 Mn customers till date.

Prior to this funding round, the startup raised about INR 35 Cr since inception and also got featured in Inc42’s Fast42 edition.

On the financial front, the startup saw an almost 90% growth in its standalone operating revenue in the financial year ended March 31, 2024 (FY24) to INR 58 Cr from INR 31 Cr recorded in the previous fiscal year, according to Tofler.

On the back of its growing revenues, Anveshan was able to trim its net loss by 23% to INR 5.7 Cr in FY24 from INR 7.4 Cr in the year ago period. Besides, the startup claims to have crossed the INR 100 Cr revenue mark in FY25.

There has been a big preferential shift in consumers who are looking for healthy alternatives in the market which has made Indian investors to turn bullish on nutrition and health-focussed D2C brands.

This month itself nutrition focussed D2C brands like Good Monk, phab and Eat Better have bagged $2 Mn each in funding. Moreover, according to Inc42’s Indian Tech Startup Funding Report, 2024, D2C brands snapped up $849 Mn, about 55% of total finding in the ecommerce sector last year.

Anveshan competes with the likes of TATA Simply Better, Barosi and Two Brothers Organic Farms, among others, to tap into India’s food and beverages market which is projected to become a $68 Mn opportunity by 2030.